Would You Like Frites With That?

Q:

Combine America, Utah, Boise and Salem a certain way and you get Madison, Wisconsin. Remove any of the four and you get Lincoln, Nebraska.


How is this possible?



 Hint:

I'm very wary of making this too easy.  There's just too much at steak.  Here's a suggestion, though.  If you're  desperate  for help, send out an SOS.

 A:

Assign a numerical value to each letter of the alphabet.  A=1, B=2, C=3, etc.  The values of the letters in America add up to 50 as do  Utah, Boise and Salem.  All four add up to 200 which is the value of Madison, Wisconsin.  Remove any one and you have 150 which is the value of Lincoln, Nebraska.

The hint was the misspelling of 'steak' directly above SOS  -  steak sauce  -  A1

Feel free to post your answer or anything else in the comments area.